Patna, September 24, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani on Thursday defended his controversial remark that he would “shoot” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the poll panel chief of allegedly destroying the country and undermining the electoral process.
Sahani had earlier triggered a political controversy by saying that he would have shot Gyanesh Kumar if he were allowed to get away with one murder.
The remarks came a day after a media report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had “objected on record” to several decisions of the Election Commission, allegedly without their knowledge.
Speaking to IANS, Sahani defended his statement and said that he had made the remark in the context of what he described as the alleged destruction of the country.
“Certainly, I said that if the Constitution of the country allowed one murder to be forgiven, then I would shoot Gyanesh Kumar. Because at present, he is intent on destroying the country, a nation for which our ancestors were martyred,” Sahani said.
He added, “If anyone comes to destroy this country, we — as descendants of the brave Phoolan Devi — will not hesitate to take up arms.”
Sahani alleged that the electoral process was not being conducted fairly and said elections should serve the people rather than politicians.
Referring to the constitutional role of voters, he said Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar had provided citizens with the power to remove politicians from office if they failed to fulfil their responsibilities.
“Despite this, people of the country are being deceived…fair elections are not being conducted,” he said.
The VIP chief also targeted the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission of India over the expenditure involved in elections, alleging that public money was being wasted.
On the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, Sahani claimed that the public had sought to remove the BJP but alleged that the electoral process was manipulated through the use of money and deletion of names of lakhs of voters.
He further alleged that 27 lakh votes were deleted in West Bengal on the basis of caste and religion and claimed that central forces were deployed to influence voting in favour of the BJP.
These claims were made by Sahani and were not independently established in the remarks provided to IANS.
Sahani also warned that young people would not remain silent if anyone in the country acted like the British or Adolf Hitler.
“If the Constitution had not been there, I would have shot him (Gyanesh Kumar) myself,” he said, while questioning the authority of the Chief Election Commissioner.
“This country belongs to 1.5 billion people; he (Gyanesh Kumar) cannot do whatever he wants. If everything were to be done according to his whims, then why do we even need the Election Commissioners?” Sahani said.
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